Ben Fogle has revealed how he ‘nearly died’ this week after almost being hit by delivery van near his home in the village of Fawley outside Henley, Oxfordshire.
What Happened?
The TV adventurer, 50, said his ‘life flashed before my eyes’ as the delivery driver ‘careered around a blind bend, threw on its breaks and skidded to a halt just a few feet from me and my dog‘.
Ben has since issued a desperate plea for the council to reduce the 60mph speed limit to 20mph as he recalled how his two teenage children have also come close to injury on the road.
Recalling the near death experience in a lengthy Instagram post on Friday, he said: ‘I nearly died yesterday. Not on Everest or in some remote jungle. Not on an Ocean or in a desert, but on a small single track lane outside my home in rural Oxfordshire.
How the Accident Happened
‘Given the things I have done and the risks I have taken, it feels a little ironic that my own near death experience should happen so close to home. Let me explain…
‘I was running along the road with my dog at my side. I don’t run along the road because I want to run on the road but most land is private. I run along the road because it is the only way to reach the fewer and fewer paths and bridleways.
‘A delivery driver driving at the perfectly legal, but obviously dangerous 60mph, careered around one of the many blind bends, threw on its breaks and skidded to a halt just a few feet from me and my dog.
‘My life flashed before my eyes. Just as it had done when my boat capsized on the Atlantic Ocean and when my oxygen bottle exploded on Everest, but this was on a dog walk outside my home.’
Ben described the village, home to several hundred people, as ‘idyllic with children, dogs, horses, farmers and a thriving social community’.
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Ben Started a Petition
The presenter, who has six dogs and is married to wife Marna, has started a petition to reduce the current 60mph speed limit to 20mph before a fatality occurs after his two children son Ludo, 15, and 13-year-old daughter Iona also had near misses on separate occasions.
He said: ‘While my daughter rides her pony along the road because it is the only way to reach the fewer and fewer bridleways, delivery drivers race at the legal 60mph around blind bends to meet home delivery time targets.
‘While my son cycles on his bike with the dogs, day visitors, blindly following sat nav and the 60mph speed limit career along the single track pavement, sorry road.
‘The only way I can reach the limited footpaths is on the same single track road that I must share with 60mph delivery drivers,’ he concluded.
